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Showing posts from November, 2018

The only way that the legislature debacle becomes an NDP/Liberal proxy war is if the narrative is spun that way

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One of the most disappointing articles I've read in a long time was published by Rob Shaw, where he suggests that the current debacle under way at the BC Legislature is a proxy war between the two major parties in BC. That itself is a BC Liberal talking point. Its a "both sides" argument being made. Its false, but that's how this is being spun, and it serves BC Liberals that this be told in that narrative. In short, Speaker Daryl Plecas and his special assistant Mullins uncovered some shady things they believe worthy of a police investigation. So they forwarded whatever they had to the police. Two special prosecutors are now involved because of the politically sensitive nature of the investigation. In the ordinary world, had you done anything or accused of doing something shady, until it could be proved beyond doubt; you could rightly be expected to be suspended with pay as the investigation does whatever it does. In the case of the legislative duo in questio

The problem with FPTP

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One of the most outrageous lies told by the anti-reform folks is that 'proportional representation' will trigger the arrival of extremist politicians. That is a lie. Voters choose the parties they wish, they get the government derived from the ballot box. Its fair to suggest that our current system has done more to hasten the arrival of more extreme politics than the option of changing the system. As evidence, it was under FPTP in Canada that thanks to the regional concentration of the right-wing separatist BQ in Quebec, a party with no more than 12% of the popular vote nationally became Her Majesty's Official Opposition in 1993' this is despite the former PC party winning a significantly larger share of the popular vote, but spread out across the nation so that they lost all but 2 seats. Equally, the regionally concentrated, ultra conservative Reform Party in that same election went from one seat to 3rd party with over 50 seats despite a lower proportion of the p